Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.
And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday, July 31, 2024.
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The Birds That Audubon Missed: Discovery And Desire In The American Wilderness by Ken Kaufman
Birder and naturalist Kaufman (A Season on the Wind, 2019) offers a compelling look at the ornithological rivalries of the early 1800s, noting specifically at the start that trying to pin down the details of Audubon’s life and discoveries is like finding oneself in a “”dimly lit hall of mirrors.”” This age of natural history discovery was an exciting period, pitting Audubon against other well-known ornithologists in a race to find and, equally importantly, name newly found bird species. But even these determined naturalists and artists missed a number of not-uncommon species in their quests to be the best. Kaufman muses on how Audubon would have painted these “”missing”” birds had he encountered them, then, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kaufman experimented with illustrating them in Audubon’s style. Kaufman illuminates this key period and the competitions that jump-started it in a lively narrative in which he also weaves in his own experiences as a budding naturalist-become-science-historian. Kaufman’s blend of history, science, art, biography, and memoir will intrigue birders and readers fascinated by the larger context. – Booklist Review
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It’s Elementary by Elise Bryant
This fun and twisty mystery from YA author Bryant (Reggie and Delilah’s Year of Falling) proves that she can also write for the adult audience. Mavis Miller, a hard-working single mom, lives with her feisty daughter, her retired dad, and a new puppy. Her plate is full, and she doesn’t consider herself PTA mom material. When Trisha, the formidable PTA president at her daughter’s school, asks Mavis if she’d like to run the DEI committee there, Mavis’s first reaction is no, but then she reconsiders. As one of the few Black parents at the school, she thinks maybe she could make a difference there. But after the first contentious meeting, the school principal vanishes under suspicious circumstances. Mavis is determined to get to the bottom of his disappearance. Mavis’s life is about to get very interesting, with the hot school psychologist helping her and her ex back on the scene, VERDICT Filled with snappy dialogue, laugh-out-loud scenes, quirky characters, a solid mystery, and a dash of romance, here’s hoping there’ll be more stories about Mavis. – Library Journal Review
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This is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter
Will Trent and Sara Linton have barely arrived for their honeymoon at McAlpine Lodge when screams lead them to lodge manager Mercy McAlpine, who has been savagely stabbed. She whispers her last words in Will’s arms. Will, who has been struggling with the loss of his mother, now must deliver Mercy’s message to her teenage son and secure the scene for local police. But Sheriff Biscuits Hartshorne has already pinned Mercy’s murder on her abusive ex-husband, Dave, and isn’t interested in investigating. Will knows what Dave is capable of. Dave was called “the Jackal” in the group home in which they were placed as kids. But why would he kill Mercy now? Alternative motives abound. Mercy threatened to reveal family secrets that would derail plans to sell the lodge, her brother’s creepy friend Chuck was obsessed with her, and the lodge’s other guests are throwing up a myriad of red flags. The sheer number of motives should stretch credulity, but Slaughter’s skillfully nuanced portrayal of the investigation, exposing abuse, manipulation, and desperate greed, creates a disturbingly realistic page-turner. This bar-raiser for the classic locked-room mystery is in good company with Sarah Pearse’s The Sanitorium (2021), Adrian McKinty’s The Island (2022), and One by One, by Ruth Ware. – Starred Booklist Review
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Under A Rock: A Memoir by Chris Stein
Blondie guitarist Stein, now 74 years old, begins his engaging memoir with his childhood in New York City. He details his middle-class upbringing in a left-wing family, his school days, his fascination with photography, and the phase that led to his hospitalization due to hallucinogens. He recounts his meeting singer Deborah Harry, the early days of Blondie at the NYC performance space CBGB, and the late-1970s New York punk scene. In the last half of the book, he chronicles the mainstream success of Blondie with the 1978 disco-influenced album Parallel Lines (which contained the song “Heart of Glass”), their increasingly funky pop on the 1980 single “Call Me,” and the group’s 1980 Autoamerican album (featuring “The Tide Is High”). The book ends with a description of Stein’s substance-use disorder, the end of his romantic relationship with Harry, his sobriety and family life, and the band’s ongoing tours and recordings. It also relates engaging stories about such notables as William S. Burroughs, David Bowie, H.R. Giger, Andy Warhol, and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
VERDICT Written in an off-the-cuff style, this memoir offers a descriptive, highly impressionistic account of the author’s role in Blondie and his life in New York City. Will engage general readers. – Library Journal Review
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The Wilds by Sarah Pearse
“An atmospheric chiller with shocking twists.” —Shari Lapena, New York Times bestselling author of The Couple Next Door
Detective Elin Warner unravels the mystery behind the disappearance of a young woman in a propulsive new thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Sanatorium
Since the dark events that scarred her childhood, Kier Templer escaped her hometown to live life on the road. She and her twin have never lost contact until, on a trip to a Portuguese national park, Kier vanishes without a trace.
Detective Elin Warner arrives in the same park ready to immerse herself in its vast wilderness – only to hear about Kier’s disappearance, and discover a disturbing map she left behind. The few strangers at an isolated campsite close ranks against Elin’s questions, and the park’s wild beauty starts to turn sinister.
Elin must untangle the clues to find out what really happened to Kier. But when you follow a trail, you have to be careful to watch your back…
Sarah Pearse brilliantly introduced readers to Elin Warner in The Sanatorium, with her exploits continuing in The Retreat; here, the series concludes with The Wilds, where the unanswered questions plaguing Elin are finally resolved.
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Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
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Information on the three library catalogs
The Digital Catalog: https://stls.overdrive.com/
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
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Hoopla Catalog: https://www.hoopladigital.com/
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron check out limit is 10 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
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StarCat: The catalog of physical/traditional library materials: https://starcat.stls.org
Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.
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Have questions about how to access Internet based content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios)? Feel free to drop by the Reference Desk or call the library and we will assist you! The library’s telephone number is: 607-936-3713.
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Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 